Michael Smith with son Jacob and Jeff

July 21st, 2008: Water Temp 88* and Clear:

We had 2 trips today, I took out Mike and Danny took out Clarke and his friends. We both started out looking for topwater action. About 6 I found a large school busting in about an acre of water. We popped a few punks out of it although I kept looking at the depth finder and seeing nice fish below the breaking fish. The punks were fun to play with but we soon realized the nicer fish were not feeding on top. We trolled around and caught a few more but lost the primary school. We relocated another school nearby and called Danny in and we started putting fish in the boat. We worked them for an hour and moved on. Danny located two more schools that both boats worked catching fish all morning. We all came in at 11, catching 50 fish between the 2 boats and everyone taking home a few Stripers for the table. We also had a friend out fishing with live bait today, Earl Motorman Mielke, that we called to numerous schools we found to see if the Stripers would hit the live bait. He didn't loose a fish today. He never got Bit!

Clarke Norman with guests Ross and Ian Gibson

July 21st, 2008: Clarke and guests pictured with guide Danny Ratliff and Brandon. See above entry for details.

Paul Henon with Jim, Mike and Barnett

July 18th, 2008: Sunny and Hot, Water Temp 86* and Clear. This is a picture of the start of a beautiful morning on Lake Anna. Father [and father in law] Paul sat up front of the boat and watched his "Boys" fish this morning. Although it was a full moon last night and the fish did not cooperate well this morning we did manage to catch about 10 Stripers and Barnett caught a nice Bass trolling lures. Here's Mike showing off a big Striper.

Barnett with a nice Largemouth Bass

David Makogon, Mark and Ryan Huber

July 17th, 2008: Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 85* and Clear.

Picked clients up at their dock this morning and looked for breaking fish. Saw some punks breaking but no nicer fish so I hunted for some schools deep. I found a nice school, put out 6 rods full of lures and the fun began. We hit a couple of different schools and caught 20 Stripers before 9 am this morning. Mark is pictured hold his first Striper of the morning along with Ryan holding up a nice fish. I did not get a picture of David with his big one of the day, he decided to release it before it ever got in the boat.

Phineas Fiddler and Bill Grabsch

July 16th, 2008: Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 85* and Clear.

We got out at 5:30 and I set up where I thought we could catch some breaking Stripers. I showed the guys what to do in the event the fish would come up and within the minute they started breaking. The Stripers surfaced for about an half an hour, fish blowing up all around the boat. We caught our share and I decided to start trolling . Lost that school and got on my big motor and found a school nearby. Made 5 or 6 passes on it, only catching 1 keeper fish so I left them and moved on. A friend called me into a school he had found and we worked it for 45 minutes till we limited out. We had a great morning today, worked 4 schools of fish, caught 18 Stripers and was off the water by 9:30 before it got too hot.

Bill Chronister and sons, grandson and son in law

July 15th, 2008: Sunny and Warm, Water temp 85* and Clear.
Picked the guys up at the marina and set up on some breaking Stripers. Made a few casts at them and put a few in the boat but they sounded quickly and we were not able to work them for long. Started trolling in the area but had little success. Fish today were pretty broke up and not schooled very tightly. We hit numerous schools of Stripers, catching a few here and there, the fish just not eating today. We caught 17 Stripers and worked hard for all of them. Did not matter too much to the crew, for many of them they caught the largest fish of their lives and had a great morning outing on the lake.

Ron Emery with guests Scott and Carol Kieffer

July 14th, 2008: Cloudy, Rainy and warm, Water Temp 85* and Clear. Caught bait and picked the guys up, went right to a school of Stripers that I located earlier this morning. Taught the guys how to work the baits, the fish came up and we caught Stripers on the surface. They were blowing baits out of the water everywhere! While they were casting lures I put out downlines rigged with Herring but the fish did not want them so I got everything in and put out 6 rods and trolled. We hadn't got out the last rod before we started hooking up and before we got the first fish in all 6 rods were bent over. We landed 8 fish on 6 rods on our first pass! We turned around, put the lures back out and hooked them all up again and again. My clients did not want to keep any fish so we put back all the fish that were not injured and that I knew would survive, keeping the others. We hit another school and repeated the same scenario time and time again. After putting the 16th dead fish in the livewell we reeled everything in and were off the water way before lunch time. I lost count of exactly how many fish we caught but it had to be well over 40 Stripers.One of the pictures shows one of the 6 doubles [2 fish on 1 rod] that we had today.

Terry, Sam, Jackie, Kathie and Jamie

July 12th, 2008: Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 85* and clear.

Got on the water at 4 this morning and caught bait, picked the guys up at 5:30 at High Point. Had a buzzard following me just waiting for me to set up and show him where the fish were. Found a school nearby and showed the crew how to cast to them. Terry's first cast he hooked up and the action began. Jamie hooked up and I hooked up and gave the pole to Sam. All this excitement this early in the morning caught up to Terry and he back lashed a couple of reels. Jamie got a lure hung in the net and after 15 minutes trying to get the lure unhung and rigging other rods the surface action subsided. By now there were 7 boats on us anyway, time to move on. I taught them how to put downlines out, found another school and the resumed the action. We kept hitting schools, catching fish, boats spooking fish, hitting more schools and catching more fish. Today we caught over 30 fish, not bad for a busy Saturday. Still can't stand fishing on the weekends, showing everyone where the fish are.

Joe Newman with guests Alzie, Mike, Brandon, and Jim

July 11th, 2008: Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 84* and Clear. Picked clients up at their dock at 5:30 and went around the corner and found a school of Stripers. I found them on my depthfinder but once we sat down to get ready to fish the lake exploded around us. I was ready for them today having 4 rods rigged with topwater lures and once the guys learned how to work the baits they all got to enjoy the action, even Jimmy. Fish busted for 30 minutes, the school being at least 500 yards long. After the topwater action slowed a bit we trolled through the school, continuing to catch fish. We worked this school for 2 hours before loosing it. I went a found yet a larger school on my depthfinder and worked it for an hour or more. We came off the water around 10 o'clock, catching about 25 Stripers. My camera battery was dead today, therefore no picture till Monday when Joe emails me ones I took with his camera. I think Jimmy used my camera this morning and left it on and the battery ran down. Finally got the pictures of this motley crew to put up on the site. Jim [18"] is pictured on the left, you may have seen his picture in your local Post Office!

George, Scotty, Ben, James and Demcy

July 10th, 2008: Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 83* and clear.
Caught bait early, picked clients up at 5:30 and hit the lake. Found a school and set up on them with little success. Found another school and was just getting ready to put out lines when a friend called me to a Huge school. When we got there the surface was erupting with Stripers blowing baits out of the water. Had to be 5 acres of fish. We out downlines on the fish and caught a few but they did not want our offerings so we got the lines in and trolled through them and started catching them. We worked that school for an hour then numerous others through out the day. We saw thousands of Stripers today but we had to work for the 20 some fish we caught.

Jess and Brian Reed with David Houston

July 8th, 2008: Rain, Cloudy and Sunny, Water temp 84* and Clear. Met the guys at the marina at 4 this morning to catch bait but we were greeted by a thunderstorm so we drug our feet getting out. Caught bait and went looking for Stripers. Looked for 25 minutes and finally found a school, taught the guys how to set out the downlines, caught a couple of fish before the school moved. Found it again and worked it, lost it for 10 minutes and found it again. That was how the day went, never did the fish go on a major feed, just a couple here, a couple there. We found dozens of schools and the fish finally bit better later in the day. Today we caught about 30 Stripers with the guys taking home a mess to eat.

Thomas Rorrer

July 7th, 2008: Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temp 82* and clear. Picked Tom up at 5:30, found a school and trolled lures on them. We had just got our 5th line out when the action started. Tom picked it up and before he got it in another went off. That lasted about 30 minutes then we went and found another and another and another school, putting fish in the boat on every pass. This was Tom's first Striper trip catching Stripers on Lake Anna. After the 8th or 9th fish he asked for a band aid, he had wore the skin off one finger reeling in fish. We came off the water today at 10 after putting 18 to 20 nice Stripers in the boat. All fish were released to fight again another day.

Doug and Dillon Myers w Dale,Dale Jr. , Steve, and Logan

July 5th, 2008. Cloudy, Rainy and warm, Water Temp 85* and Clear.

Caught bait early and picked clients up at their dock at 5:30. Looked for a school for 10 minutes then found what I wanted to see on the graph. We put downlines on the Stripers and they started going down. Stripers started breaking around us, rods were going down and the guys were going nuts trying to keep up. I gave Doug a topwater plug, he made 3 casts and hooked up with the best fish of the day. Within 10 minutes we got busted and the buzzards moved in and naturally spooked the school. We hit a few more schools with success but every time we caught fish the inconsiderate trollers would run over us spooking the fish. Today we fished just this morning due to it being the holiday and worked 5 different schools of Stripers. July 4th is always the start of numerous schools of Stripers busting the surface, so if you come to the lake this month make sure you have a topwater plug tied on.

Tara, Sam, Tom, Susan, Jack and Lauren

July, 4th, 2008: Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temp. 85* and Clear. Since today was a morning trip I picked the crew up, found fish and trolled threw the schools. The first school I found was a great school of Stripers but it didn't take but about 10 minutes for the buzzards to start circling my boat and spooking the school. If these inconsiderate "fisherman" would learn to look at their depthfinders they would realize there are 100's of schools of Stripers to be caught. Anyway today I found 5 or 6 nice schools and caught fish out of all of them. Everyone caught Stripers and the little guys were able to reel in plenty also. A great way and morning to start off a celebration of the 4th of July.

Nick, Nicholas, Javi, Bob and David

July 3rd, 2008: Sunny and Hot, Water Temp 86* and Clear. Left the house at 4 this morning and just as I got out of the driveway my wheel fell off my trailer. Not a great beginning of a morning. Got the trailer back to the house, called my client and told him I will be a little late, called good friend Greg Whitlock of Louisa Boat and Motors and before 6 am he had come over and replaced my hub, bearings, wheel and tire. How is that for service? Got to the water and picked clients up before 7, went and caught bait and went fishing. Found a very nice school and put baits on them but we drug our feet doing it and the school moved off before catching any. Looked nearby and saw some broke up fish , tried bait on them with no success and decided to hit them trolling fast and see if they would hit our lures out of reaction. Caught 2 right out of the box and no more out of that school. Today's fishing was simular to my morning experience with my trailer, a lot of frustration but some happy endings. We fished hard today , burned 20 gallons of gas looking for schools and caught fish for a holiday dinner. Nicholas is pictured with his first striper.

Lindsey, Rob, Eric, Gary and Laura

July 1st, 2008: Partly cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temp 85* and Clear. Picked my clients up at 5 and went and caught bait. Located a school of Stripers over 35 feet of water and put downlines on them. Before we could get the 3rd bait out Rob put one in the boat and showed the rest of the crew how it was done. We worked that school for awhile until the buzzards moved in and the school moved on. We went around the corner where there were no boats and found another school and started putting fish in the boat again. We had it to ourselves for 15 minutes and worked massive schools of fish until the Buzzards started circling and once they saw us catch fish they move right in and spooked the school. After a dozen boats ran over the school the fish broke up and did not re-group the rest of the day. We caught a few singles up to 9:30 but not another Striper after that. [Don't know if the fish just turned off or all the suntan lotion Rob rubbed on every one's reels spooked the fish!] Just kidding Rob.Lindsey caught the big fish of the day and also was credited with loosing the big fish of the day. Rob fishes Claytor Lake in VA. and wanted to learn how to catch bait and fish for Stripers so we spent a lot of time today learning. They took home a few fish for the holiday. I have a feeling you will be seeing their pictures on my journal in the future.

Bert and Lilly Harris

June 30th, 2008: Sunny and Warm, Water Temp *5* and Clear. Caught bait this morning and set up on a huge school of Stripers over 26 foot of water, put out downlines and Nothing, nothing happened. Well I got over that and found another school after 5 minutes of looking and hooked up numerous times and caught some nice fish. After loosing the school we burnt a lot of gas locating and fishing numerous schools , using live bait a also doing a little trolling. Bert took home a few fish to share with his brother-in-law who has a house on the lake.

Striper Al , Michael and Myself

June 29th, 2008: Partly Cloudy and Warm, Water Temp 85* and Clear. Today was the first day I had off in awhile so I woke up early as usual and got the boat ready, woke my 3 year old grandson up, threw him in the truck with his breakfast and took off on his first Striper trip. Got to the Marina at 5, picked up good old friend Striper Al and went out and caught bait. Took an hour to get bait, found some fish main lake where no one else was fishing and put out 8 downlines. Before we knew it the baits got nervous and Michael put a Catfish in the boat. Al hooked up on a nice Striper a second after Mike picked up a rod and started reeling one in. Both fought their fish for about a minute and once I landed Al's fish Mike hollered out " Pa, I have a Big fish and I can't hold it anymore". I thought he had another Kitty but he had reeled a 6 pound Striper right up to the boat and it was flopping around on the surface. I threw Al's fish onto the deck and prayed I could get Mike's in before it broke off or he lost grip of the rod. Everything worked out great, we boated the Striper and Al snapped a picture of My Grandson and myself holding his first Striper. This all happened within 10 minutes of putting the baits out and when we looked up there were 4 boats on top of us running over the fish and spooking the school. Obviously Michael enjoyed the experience of catching bait and fishing because I thought he would only be good for a couple hours this morning but he hung in there for 5 hours and it was Al and myself that called it quits. This was a morning that I will never forget and hopefully Michael will cherish the memories forever .

Adam, Chase, Shaylor and Aaron

June 26th, 2008: Sunny and Hot, Water Temp 84* and Clear. Caught bait this morning and picked the guys up and searched for Stripers. Put bait on a few schools and all the fish did was kill the baits. After awhile we started trolling and hit numerous schools catching a few but not what we should have considering all the fish we were seeing. Later in the day we went back to live bait and caught a few more until right when we were ready to come in the fish decided to feed and we had some fun. Today the boys caught about 20 Stripers and some Cats.

Matt, Scott, Lee, Darren and Veronica

June 25th, 2008: Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temp 84* and Clear.

Got out real early and caught bait, picked the guys up at High Point at 5:30 and went looking for Stripers. Checked out a few places then found a nice school in the mouth of a creek and picked up 2 fish then had to go back to the marina to pick up a couple of other clients.. Looked nearby the marina and found a few more schools and trolled through them catching a few before the schools moved on. We found some nice schools and put Herring on them and caught a lot of fish but mostly punks. Today we caught about 30 fish and my clients took home a few to eat.